The Tabakece Family

We went on a day cruise to Beachcomber Island. This was one of the highlights (of many) from out trip. Anyway, the slideshow is below, but I'll write a little more about it and hopefully post some videos.



We boarded a ship and headed out to Beachcomber Island for the day. I had never been on a boat bigger than one you water ski on, so that was fun for me. Everyone knocked out for the ride over there...including Ife.



As we continued small boats would come and take passengers to their islands that they were visiting. We passed tons of pretty islands. It was awesome. Anyway, we got on our little boat and headed to the island. I was amazed at how blue and clear the water was. The small ride to the island was fun. We were able to see the reef through the glass-bottom boat.



The island was amazing. People basically served us all day. They would walk around the island and bring you drinks or anything that you needed. There was a free buffet lunch that we were able to enjoy because both of the kids were sleeping and the workers (30 or so people who live on the island) loved the kids and watched them the entire time for us. The bar had free drinks all day long. Too bad we don't drink much. Anyway, we mostly just relaxed all day on the island.



I don't know the exact size of the island, but you could walk around the entire thing in about 7 minutes. There were tons of activities to do - snorkeling, jet skiing, beach volleyball, para sailing, kayaking, canoeing, & touch rugby. After lunch we took the kids out for a boat ride to feed the fish. This was really cool. Saki absolutely loved this part. He threw bread over the side and the little fish practically jumped out of the water to get it. The fish close to the surface - eating the bread - looked like zebras. Under the boat as the water got deeper and deeper, the fish just got bigger. I got a video that's pretty good, but you can't see the huge fish that were really deep and can't see the color of the fish really great.

****(I am ultra-annoyed I can't get the video to load. I have never had problems before. I will have Ife figure it out and make sure to get them posted soon).

So, it was really fun going around the reef. We dropped off about 8 snorkelers before we went to feed the fish. All the colors of the reef were so bright. There were hundreds of brightly colored fish too. Everything from hot pink and purple to orange and blue. The starfish were HUGE. They were the most interesting thing to me. We were on the boat just checking out the reef for about an hour before we headed back to the island. It was really fun and Saki loved it. He called all of the fish Nemo. We actually did see some clown fish.

We thought it was funny that Saki was eating handfuls of sand, chewing it like food and swallowing it...that is until he pooped it out for the next 4 days and had a pretty bad diaper rash. That can't be too good on the stomach/intestines either. Now we know for next time though. Kaveni didn't eat too much sand.

Anyway, the day was so relaxing and fun, but by the end of the day we were exhausted. We did learn that you could stay on the island for about $400 a night. The cruise ship we took back to Denarau was cool too. Saki thought we were on a plane because the seats inside reminded him of that.

We would definitely recommend this to anyone who goes to Fiji. It was so worth the money and definitely a great time for making memories with the family.

I don't have a lot of time so this post about Fiji will be quick. Anyway, I'm not very scared of spiders and bugs and all of those little creatures, but there is one thing that I have really learned to hate since going to Fiji and that is the mosquitoes. The only downfall of Fiji was that I was literally eaten alive. As for the rest of my family...nothing. ABSOLUTELY no bites. I would rather me bitten than the kiddos, but honestly...I just cringe thinking about it. Here is a picture of just two bites on my arm. I didn't even itch them. This was my natural reaction to them. On each leg from the knee down I had over 50 bites per leg. I wish I would have taken pictures. I got them on my fingers and toes and FACE. Even with the heat I learned to sleep in long pants and a sweatshirt. That was dreadful. We also slept under mosquito nets. I think most of the bites came from early mornings and late nights of just sitting around hanging out.

Of course we got things under control after the first week, but I was miserable with the bites. I got this prescription cream that worked really well, but that mostly helped with the swelling and itching. Anyway, besides that the bugs weren't bad and every time I saw a Gecko I was happy because I knew they were eating up the bugs. I didn't even see a single cockroach. Ife obviously didn't mind letting the spiders crawl all over him. I later learned it's only because they are not poisonous.

Sorry they are blurry...maybe I was was just a LITTLE scared.

Okay, enough of that. I did get a bite from something on my hand...possibly a wasp, but we weren't sure. Ife's family made me do this home remedy. If any of you know me then you know that I was just laughing inside thinking "yeah right", but it took the pain right away. I was so thankful for it. Here I am soaking my hand in a mixture of...stuff. Ahhhh, it felt sooo good.

I just realized that you can see one of the huge mosquito bites on my cheek in this picture. My fingers swelled up enough to not let me wear my wedding ring. I was able to wear my watch though:).

So you Fijians out that have heard about this place before since everyone who has been back to Fiji goes there, but for everyone else, this is the waterfall we went to one day. Since it is a tourist attraction...somewhat...you had to pay to get in. It was $1 for locals. (Sorry Karla and Danielle...we didn't even have to pay the $5 tourist price. Probably because they didn't see the white girl sitting in the van FULL of Fijians).

Anyway, this is the waterfall Ife and his friends would sneak into when they would skip school. Crazy I know...what kind of kids skip school...just kidding.

The water was incredibly refreshing. I could have gone every day. There was a little hike in and picnic tables in the jungly trees and a rope swing into the pool. We got there just as some tourists were leaving and had the whole day to ourselves.

Of course, Saki wouldn't get in the water (that pansy) but he enjoyed the whole day throwing rocks in. Kaveni enjoyed spending time on the mat with Ife's mom. And the big kids enjoyed swimming and playing. Here is a video of Momo Banana (uncle banana to our kids-his name is Saki, that my Saki is named after...for confusion purposes, I'll just call him Momo Banana). He climbed up the tree to jump into the pool. Holy Moly it was high. It doesn't look so high, but it really was. For some reason this reminded me of my brother Cody. You probably know why.

(My pictures and videos are not loading...so I'll have to add more later SORRY)

First of all, I am a little overwhelmed about blogging only because there is so much to say. We took a thousand pictures while we were in Fiji so I will probably be doing a lot of slideshows for those that are interested and then posts hitting the main things that we did. There were just so many 'main' things.

Anyway, since it was the first time for Ife to bring me, Saki, and Kaveni home, we were dressed in the traditional Fijian clothing. Can I just say that this was after traveling for over 28 hours. CRAZY, I know! We were all pretty nasty from the humidity and sweating, but hey, who's complaining!

Here is Saki not knowing what to think. He was wearing the lei that Ife got when he finished his mission. They just freshened it up with some real flowers. I thought that was cool. He is also wearing a tabua (whale's tooth) around his neck. These are a sign of wealth and are given on very special occasions. Notice his little rosy cheeks from the heat.

Here is Saki with two of his cousins. They all had the best times together while we were there. In the middle is Bale Celeste Tabakece...named after me of course :), and then Elenoa Lagilagi. She had been in Fiji for a few months and we brought her back with us to Ife's sister-(her mom) who lives in Utah. Notice their freshly made skirts.Here is Saki with Ife's mom. She is the sweetest cutest thing you have ever seen.Here's a better picture of the clothing. LOVE IT!